The present invention relates to a user interface for a network media channel that facilitates easy access to media files across one or more networks. More specifically, the present invention focuses on a user interface that is defined by a person-centric data-aggregation model. The navigation path to data is organized primarily through the people that it is associated with. The organizing categories of the user interface structure, among others, are people, media, time, and location which may be realized through the use of kernels associated with the media files. Each of these categories can become a primary organizing element for the data.
The key activity that this framework and the user interface are well suited for is sharing of data between people. It facilitates the capturing of photos, audio, and movies which can then be shared with others. The user interface further allows for the download, streaming, and interaction with entertainment or informational content that can be consumed and shared. It further allows for the creation and promotion of events which can be shared. It also allows for the browsing, annotation, and sharing of entertainment and information about physical places.
The user interface is organized around a buddy list. By quickly browsing through that list one is able to quickly see the data associated with each person. The associations may be classified into four primary categories; user-generated content, entertainment or information content, scheduling and events, and physical places. The view of one's buddy list with its associated data set defines a fundamental view of the user interface. One may choose to look deeper into each of the four categories. The four categories may also be thought of as application modules. Each of the modules is associated with the primary buddy list and can be interrelated with the other modules. Each module can also exist independently of the other modules. Finally each module can also be a launcher for more specific applications. For example one can navigate to a person's entertainment and information content and launch a media player to interact with that content.
By navigating to one of the modules and browsing the data it contains one is able to begin to traverse the data set through the other categories of people, time, media, and place. For example a place may have associated media, or an event may have associated people. These associations can also provide navigation paths between modules as well as encapsulate higher order groupings. For example by navigating to a single person's user-generated content one can link to an event, or place to which that content is associated with. By traversing the data set this way one is enabled to quickly discover groups of people that are linked to an event. One may also discover events that are linked over time to become an on-going series.
The user interface can exist across multiple physical devices. The simplest separation would be between a mobile device such as a mobile phone, and a PC. Depending on the capabilities or specific function of the mobile phone one might have a limited sub-set of the four modules. On the PC as a networked application one could have all the modules integrated into the full suite. For example a user may have a networked media player that has the primary buddy-list with only the entertainment and information module. This would allow the user to share entertainment and information media with other people with the device. If a user wanted to share user-generated content, event, and location information, the user could still do this via a networked application on a PC. The user would identify himself/herself through an application to a server and a replication of his/her entertainment and information module from his/her device would be available along with the other modules. One can also imagine device specific scenarios for user-generated content, events, and locations. In this sense the user interface may be implemented as both a client and server solution. One's full data set is always accessible on the server, one or more clients can have a full or limited view of that data set.
Because the user interface is primarily about sharing communication is central to it's function. By selecting a specific person one can access a unified communication interface. Rather than having one to choose a communication modality and then choose a person to communicate with, a unified communication interface keeps the primacy of the person. One can choose a person and then choose from an array of communication modalities. This is also true for incoming messaging. Rather than going to different applications for email, instant messaging, voicemail, SMS, and MMS all one's messaging is grouped and linked to a person or group that it is associated with. For example by selecting a person one can go to an inbox that is pre-filtered to include all messages with/from that person. One can also easily go to a global inbox, which would not be pre-filtered by people but rather organized by time.
The user interface provides for filtering and sorting a user's buddy list. Filtering allows the user to create sub-sets of his/her list. These subsets can be quickly accessed and edited or new ones created. The user interface also allows for the swapping of groups of sets. For example if it is being used on a mobile phone a user may have one set of groups for his/her contacts in his/her local city. If the user is planning to travel to another country, say Japan, he/she can swap-out his/her local group set and load his/her Japan set of groups. Sorting one's buddy list includes sorting it in alphabetical order much like an address book. One can also sort it by who is online/present, who is closest to him/her, and by inbound/outbound/missed communication. It would also be possible to create new sorting filters that could do with shared interests.
The user interface may be associated with four application modules that are known as LifeChannel, MediaLife, NaviLife, and LocalLife. LifeChannel may be configured as a mobile bloging or mobloging application that makes bloging from one's mobile device simple and compelling. MediaLife may be configured to bring all one's downloaded/streamed, movies, music, and games together and allows him/her to see what others are watching, listening, and playing. NaviLife may be configured to coordinate events between two people or a group. It brings the power of electronic invitations to the mobile phone. LocalLife opens up the world of personal publishing to the physical world allowing one and his/her group of friends to mark-up the real world with information that is important to him/her. All of these applications may exist in some way today, but it has yet to be brought together in a truly unified way. This unified framework creates a platform that enables applications and experiences that can not be supported otherwise.